‘Longmire’ season 4: Could a decision come by Christmas?

In honor of tonight’s “Longmire” social-media stampede (remember the hashtage #NeedLongmire, but don’t use it until it starts at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time), we thought we would churn out one more story on a show we’d love to see back on the air sooner rather than later.

Last week, the author of the Walt Longmire series of novels in Craig Johnson told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that a decision may finally be coming within the next two months:

“I expect to hear something about it by Christmas, which should actually work out pretty well … That would make a great present for the fans and the state of Wyoming, I think.”

We would love to hear a decision by that point, as well, but even if one does not come at around that time, we’re not going to look at that as the potential end of the world. After all, you have to remember here that the actors are still under contract until February. That gives you some extra leeway. We’re mostly just happy that these contracts lasted this long, since we can think of other shows (“Bunheads”) that did not have this sort of time to find a home before having to try and renegotiate with everything. That’s a tricky process that everyone would like to avoid.

We haven’t really talked about this in a good while, but it is worth discussing now: When is the earliest we could actually see the show return, in the event that it is picked up soon? At this point, it’d be pretty darn tough for it to make it back on the air this summer, unless the writers went into overdrive and production could start in the early spring.  It will ultimately be yet another test of patience for the Posse, but we cannot imagine anyone caring too much once the show is actually back on the air again. Just going through the long wait has been torture for many longtime fans of the show.

As always, take a look at our “Longmire” archive to see everything else that we’ve been saying about the beloved show over the past couple of months. Our newsletter is also a great way to have more big stories on all we cover at CarterMatt sent to your email inbox. (Photo via Warner Horizon.)